


Not Quite A Vacuum

by gala_apples



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - I'm Not Okay Video, Love Bites, M/M, Tie Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-07
Updated: 2012-07-07
Packaged: 2017-11-09 08:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/453520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gala_apples/pseuds/gala_apples
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikey has a hickey. Frank wants, no, <i>needs</i> to figure out how.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Quite A Vacuum

It is a basic and obvious fact that none of them will have a girlfriend before graduating. No one ever asks for explanations of facts, but Frank has one anyway. It’s a combination of him and his friends being too cool, and the private school girls all being bitches. It takes a hardcore kind of guy to eat a crayon. If the stuck up girls that surround them don’t understand that it’s completely their loss. If they were at a public school, it might contain more decent human beings, but private schools are pretty lacking. For now they’re destined to be alone.

So needless to say he’s blown away when Mikey comes to school with a hickey. 

At first Frank thinks vacuum cleaner. But Mikey’s not like that. Ray maybe, though it would be more to see if he could actually do it, and less for the implications of the results. If he had thought to do it first, he might have, though of course he can’t now. Frank prides himself in being an original. Mikey just wouldn’t care enough to do such a thing, too wrapped up in the mix tapes and weird electronica experimental cassettes he records, never mind that the rest of the planet has moved on to MP3s. 

If Mikey’s not using equipment to make it look like he’s had a heavy make out session, it therefore logically follows that he _has_ had a heavy make out session. That, or it’s just some very awkward bruising. But thinking Mikey tripped and fell on his neck is a lot like Joyce Summers tripping and landing on a barbecue fork. Frank likes to think he’s willing to think outside the box rather than searching for a ridiculous excuse that fits his known universe.

One thing is certain. If he has made out with someone it’s his duty as a man, a friend, and a human being to share the details. And he hasn’t, the wretch. With no choice left, Frank crashes between Mikey and Ray in the cafeteria, with intent to get a direct answer. Mikey’s an avoidant little shit sometimes. The staring into space can be off-putting for some people, enough so that they break first. Frank is not one of those people. 

It takes some hardcore wheedling. Frank’s expecting Mikey to try the _actually I’m thinking deep thoughts and have no Earthly concerns_ thing, and it doesn’t phase him when he casually turns the volume up so everyone at the table can hear it pumping out of the headphones that constantly sit on his neck like a piece of jewellery. All that means is he needs to speak louder to make sure Mikey can hear him. Eventually he reduces his intelligent quest for information to poking Mikey in the shoulder and repeating “what girl did you kiss?”

Finally Mikey snaps. With a voice laced with aggravation that Frank can only be proud of, he says _wasn’t a girl_. Frank pauses to consider that a second. It’s interesting information, but it doesn’t really answer the question. He pokes Mikey’s shoulder again. “Which boy was it?” 

Mikey looks at him, expression tinged with a little shock. 

“What? You didn’t think I’d give a shit about gender, did you? I only care that you’re getting some. What boy, Mikeyway? What boy, Mikeyway? What-”

Mikey’s eye is twitching as the bell signalling the end of lunch goes off. Frank swears as Mikey dashes off, leaving all his garbage on the scratched white table. He scoops it up -the lunch lady shouldn’t have to do extra work just because his friend is a spaz- and decides to spy on him after school. His cousins apparently bring girls over all the time; his aunt is always bitching about it on the phone to his mom. If Mikey’s doing the same, Frank needs to know about it. And it’ll probably be right after school, since that’s when he has privacy. His parents will still be at work until four thirty, and Gerard has that art with the homeless volunteering thing to beef up his college applications. He just needs to bike over as fast as he can after Ray drops him off.

It’s possible that if the neighbours saw him sneak into the backyard so he could stand and look into the basement half windows they’d probably think he was a creeper. He really thinks Mikey would understand though. If it was Bob or Ray with the hickies, Mikey would be all about spying on them to figure it out. Eyeholes cut in newspaper levels of spying. And even if Mikey wouldn’t, Gerard would. The elder brother is overprotective and he must seriously be dying to know who Mikey is with. And it’s not like sneaking into the backyard is any creepier than looking through the windows facing the front or the side. Which he has, it’s just there’s nothing to see through them. The basement windows are his last chance.

The first thing he notices-. Okay, well besides the obvious. Mikey and no other than Gerard are kissing. And besides the important. Gerard has the newest edition of X-Men on the nightstand, and the store Frank went to said it was sold out temporarily. And besides the gross. Gerard’s pillow doesn’t have a pillowcase and it’s yellow from a decade of spit. 

Okay, so it’s not the very first thing Frank notices. But when he does notice, Frank is interested in what the brothers are wearing. Mikey and Gerard are both still in their uniforms. It’s not how he pictured them. Not that he’s ever pictured this, because this isn’t the kind of thing a reasonable teenager thinks their friends do. More generally, it’s not what he thought they wore after school. He thought both of them would come home and change. When they hang out on the weekends, Mikey’s always in a hoodie and tight jeans, Gerard in a shirt and pyjama pants. He just assumed they’d do that as soon as they got home. It’s always the first thing Frank does when _he_ gets home. Well, except today. He didn’t want to waste the five minutes in case Mikey got cut off by Gerard coming home early. Apparently he never left.

The uncomfortable clothing suddenly makes sense a minute later. Mikey breaks for air, Frank can see his chest heaving from the awkward peering crouch he’s in half a room away. Gerard only gives him an instant before grabbing him by the wider end of his tie and reeling him back in.

Frank lives his life based on bursts of inspiration. Things like hiding in a locker and jumping out to scare the shit out of stupid assholes just come to him. Who is he to deny the whims of the Powers That Be? So when it occurs to him, Frank doesn’t crouch there thinking about ramifications. He just turns and runs to the side of the house so he can break into the garage.

It’s not breaking in as much as just throwing himself very hard against the door. It’s waterlogged from two decades of winters, and it barely closes. It hasn’t been lockable since they were all kids. It takes five solid kicks before it opens. All he has to do now is locate the spare key.

Which, he sadly admits after a few minutes of frantic searching, is clearly impossible. Either it’s been taken inside or they’ve moved it from where it was the last time Gerard locked himself out in a drunken haze. But Frank refuses to be defeated. If he can’t bring himself to them, he’ll bring them to him. He walks to the front of the house and rings the doorbell, not bothering to remove his index finger. The Ways have a buzzer, not a chime, it’ll keep going until someone answers. Frank’s exploited that before, and it’s unlikely this will be his last time.

Unless, of course, they freak out and today is the last day of friendship. But that would be pretty bullshit, because if he’s not freaking out, why should they?

Not that he’s got a plan, but the basic words he says will change depending on who answers the door. When it opens to both Mikey and Gerard, Frank goes with option three. “Gerard, I want you to give me a hickey.”

“Uh, what?”

“I figure since you’re covering Mikey with them and making him look like a stud, the least you could do is do it for me.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” There Mikey is again, with the confusing face. Coupled with a really good tone of denial, Frank could almost buy it.

“You made out with him. You grabbed him by the tie, and I really don’t know why I’ve never thought of that, because that could be fun. From this day forth I’m gonna pull Bob by the tie instead of getting piggyback rides.”

“I’m pretty sure he’d kill you.”

“Yeah. But more importantly, you wanna give me hickies now? Or should I book an appointment? I guess you’re free after school, since apparently the volunteering is a bullshit excuse.”

Gerard shakes his head, the hair in his face in contrast with his blush. “No, it’s not. I skipped today. Some stuff happened yesterday between us. I skipped so we could talk about it.”

“There wasn’t much talking,” Mikey adds dryly.

“So I was witnessing a baby deer relationship? That would be adorable, if it wasn’t fucking hot.”

“I’m not thanking you for calling us hot, considering you’re a spying asshole.”

“I thought you’d be grateful.” Whatever. If it hadn’t been Gerard in the room he totally would have begged to know what Frank found out about Mikey. “Anyway. I’m not, like, blackmailing you or anything. But seriously, could I get in on this hickey thing? If I look like people liked me in the past, it’ll draw more people to me out of curiosity.”

For a second he’s sure they’re going to say no. Then Gerard grabs him. Not quite how he grabbed Mikey. Instead of taking the wide triangle base, Gerard curls thin fingers under the part around his collar, and pulls. He has little choice; step forward or choke. He doesn’t let go even when their lips press together for the first time. Frank can feel every finger trapped between the tie and his throat. He gets it, now. He’ll be fucked for school, he’ll probably jerk off each morning when he gets dressed. But he gets it.


End file.
